CIO Contract Job Trends

Chief Information Officer (CIO)
UK

The median Chief Information Officer (CIO) daily rate in the UK is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 2 May 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
2 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 613 522 595
Rank change year-on-year -91 +73 +112
Contract jobs requiring a CIO 5 1 3
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.011% 0.003% 0.007%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.011% 0.004% 0.007%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £525 - -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 - -
75th Percentile £575 - -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median daily rate - - -

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 43,667 27,136 40,368
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.30% 92.52% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,936 17,712 26,266
10th Percentile £315 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.82% -1.90% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +3.16% -3.55% -1.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,813 1,033 2,668
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.14 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.50 £16.30
Median hourly rate £44.00 £29.00 £36.02
Median % change year-on-year +51.72% -19.49% -19.95%
75th Percentile £66.00 £62.50 £60.75
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.46 £28.00 £39.50
% change year-on-year +62.36% -29.11% -6.91%

CIO
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'CIO' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

CIO job vacancy trend in the UK

CIO
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for CIO job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for CIO job vacancies in the UK

CIO
Top 3 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing CIO within the UK over the 6 months to 2 May 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -101 3 £550 - 15
London -66 2 £550 - 8
Work from Home - 2 - - 5

CIO Skill Set
Top 29 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 2 May 2026, CIO contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring CIO in the job title.

1 2 (40.00%) Budgeting
1 2 (40.00%) Dynamics 365
1 2 (40.00%) ITSM
1 2 (40.00%) Microsoft
1 2 (40.00%) Service Management
2 1 (20.00%) AI
2 1 (20.00%) AWS
2 1 (20.00%) Azure
2 1 (20.00%) Budget Control
2 1 (20.00%) CISM
2 1 (20.00%) CISSP
2 1 (20.00%) Cryptography
2 1 (20.00%) Dependency Management
2 1 (20.00%) DevSecOps
2 1 (20.00%) DV Cleared
2 1 (20.00%) ISSMP
2 1 (20.00%) IT Strategy
2 1 (20.00%) Machine Learning
2 1 (20.00%) NCSC
2 1 (20.00%) Network Architecture
2 1 (20.00%) Network Security
2 1 (20.00%) Process Improvement
2 1 (20.00%) Project Management
2 1 (20.00%) QinetiQ
2 1 (20.00%) RMADS
2 1 (20.00%) Security Cleared
2 1 (20.00%) SIEM
2 1 (20.00%) TOGAF
2 1 (20.00%) Zero Trust

CIO Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Cloud Services
1 2 (40.00%) Dynamics 365
2 1 (20.00%) AWS
2 1 (20.00%) Azure
Communications & Networking
1 1 (20.00%) Network Security
General
1 2 (40.00%) Finance
Miscellaneous
1 1 (20.00%) Onboarding
1 1 (20.00%) PKI
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (40.00%) Budgeting
1 2 (40.00%) ITSM
1 2 (40.00%) Service Management
2 1 (20.00%) AI
2 1 (20.00%) Budget Control
2 1 (20.00%) Cryptography
2 1 (20.00%) Dependency Management
2 1 (20.00%) DevSecOps
2 1 (20.00%) IT Strategy
2 1 (20.00%) Machine Learning
2 1 (20.00%) Network Architecture
2 1 (20.00%) Process Improvement
2 1 (20.00%) Project Management
2 1 (20.00%) SIEM
2 1 (20.00%) TOGAF
2 1 (20.00%) Zero Trust
Qualifications
1 1 (20.00%) CISM
1 1 (20.00%) CISSP
1 1 (20.00%) DV Cleared
1 1 (20.00%) ISSMP
1 1 (20.00%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (20.00%) NCSC
1 1 (20.00%) RMADS
Vendors
1 2 (40.00%) Microsoft
2 1 (20.00%) QinetiQ